You just pulled a legendary skin shard for your main from a Hextech chest, but you don’t have enough orange essence to unlock it permanently? We’ve all been there. Riot’s loot system is one of the most fun parts of playing League of Legends, but figuring out how to get orange essence in League of Legends reliably can feel confusing if you don’t know where to look. No, you don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars on RP to stock up, either. There are plenty of free, Riot-approved ways to build up your orange essence stash over time, whether you’re a casual who plays a few games a week or a grinder who hits ranked every day.
Top Free Methods to Earn Orange Essence Without Spending RP
Most of the best ways to build your essence stash don’t cost any real money, you just have to know which activities give the highest return for your time. A lot of players miss out on hundreds of free essence every month just because they ignore certain parts of the game’s reward system. These are the most consistent free methods you can use right now:
- Disenchant unwanted skin shards, chromas, and ward skins: This is the most common way, and it gives you 20% of the item’s full RP value in orange essence. Always disenchant shards for champions you never play, or skins you’d never actually use instead of hoarding them.
- Complete event pass missions: Every in-game event (like Arcane, Worlds, or Lunar New Year) includes free mission tracks that hand out orange essence, even if you don’t buy the premium pass. You can usually earn 500 to 1500 orange essence per event just by playing your normal games.
- Level up your account and open champion capsules: Every time you gain an account level, you get a champion capsule that drops champion shards, blue essence, and sometimes random orange essence bundles. You also get bonus loot capsules every 10 levels that often include 1000+ orange essence.
- Claim rewards from Hextech Chests and Keys: You earn one free Hextech chest per week if you get an S-, S, or S+ rank on any champion, and keys from winning games. Chests often drop orange essence directly, or shards you can disenchant for more.
A lot of players make the mistake of hoarding every skin shard they get, even if it’s for a champion they’ve never once picked in normals or ranked. If you haven’t played a champion in over 6 months, disenchant that shard. The odds you’ll suddenly decide to main them and want that specific skin are extremely low, and you can use that essence for a skin you actually will use. If you’re consistent with these methods, you can earn 2000+ orange essence a month without spending a dime, even if you only play 3-4 games a week.
Paid Ways to Get Orange Essence Fast (For Players Short on Time)
If you’re looking to get orange essence fast for a limited-time skin, or you don’t have much time to grind missions every week, there are a few paid Riot-approved options that give great value. None of these require risky third-party tools, and you won’t risk getting your account banned for using them.
The best paid option by far is buying the premium event pass whenever a new event launches. The premium track usually includes 3000+ orange essence, plus dozens of skin shards, loot orbs, and exclusive cosmetics you can’t get anywhere else. You’ll get far more essence per dollar spent than you will buying random chest bundles. You’re better off saving your RP for event passes if you want to spend money on orange essence, since you get far more value per dollar than you do buying chests directly. Event passes also give you other rewards like skins, icons, and emotes on top of the essence, so it’s a much better deal overall.
Don’t fall for third-party sites that claim to sell cheap orange essence, by the way. All of those are scams that will either steal your account information or get your account banned permanently. Riot does not allow third-party sellers to distribute in-game currency of any kind, so any offer that seems too good to be true definitely is.
Common Mistakes That Waste Your Orange Essence
Even if you’re earning plenty of orange essence, it’s easy to burn through it faster than you can replace it if you’re making common, avoidable mistakes. Tracking how much orange essence you earn and spend each month can help you avoid wasting it on low-value items.
Upgrading temporary skin shards to permanent when you don’t actually like the skin is the biggest waste I see all the time. A lot of players will upgrade a skin just because they have the shard, even if they think the effects are ugly or they never play the champion. That’s essence you could have used for a skin you’ve been waiting months to pull. Second, don’t waste essence on rerolling skin shards unless you have three really bad shards you have no use for. Rerolling gives you a random permanent skin, but the odds of getting something you want are extremely low, and you’re usually better off disenchanting the three shards for essence instead.
Don’t use orange essence to unlock chromas unless they’re for a skin you use every single game. Most chromas are only available during events, but they usually cost a lot of essence for just a color swap, and you can often get them for free from event missions if you wait. I used to waste thousands of essence on chromas for skins I barely played when I first started, and I regret it now when I pull a legendary skin shard for my main and don’t have enough essence to unlock it. Learn from my mistake and only spend essence on things you’ll actually get use out of.
Little-Known Tricks to Get Orange Essence in League of Legends Faster
There are a few small, underrated tricks that can help you earn extra essence every week without putting in extra grind time. Most players don’t know these exist, so they’re an easy way to get a leg up on building your stash.
If you play with friends, you’re more likely to get S ranks because you have better coordination, which means you can earn your weekly free Hextech chest faster. I usually play 3-4 premade normals with my friends every week, and I almost always get my chest within the first two games, which saves me a lot of time grinding for ranks solo. Complete all your daily and weekly missions even if you don’t care about the event rewards. A lot of daily missions give you event tokens that you can exchange for orange essence or loot orbs, even if you don’t have the premium pass. You can usually get 100-200 extra essence per week just by knocking out your daily missions during your normal play sessions.
Riot also sometimes gives out free loot orbs for watching official LoL esports streams on their partner platforms, so keep an eye out for those drops. All you have to do is link your Riot account to the streaming platform and watch, no extra effort required. These small tricks don’t give you thousands of essence overnight, but they add up over time. I’ve earned almost 5000 extra essence over the past year just from doing these small things every week, and it’s let me unlock three legendary skins for my main champions without spending any extra RP.
At the end of the day, learning how to get orange essence in League of Legends doesn’t have to be complicated, and you don’t have to spend a fortune to build up a big stash. Stick to the free methods first, avoid wasting essence on things you don’t need, and use the small tricks we shared to earn extra essence as you play. You’ll have enough to unlock all your favorite skins in no time, without falling for scams or wasting money on overpriced loot bundles. If you have your own favorite way to earn orange essence, feel free to share it in the comments below – we’re always looking for new tips to add to our routine.